No Way Out How to Teach

NO WAY OUT: Letters and Lessons of the Holocaust is an interactive Five-Day Unit designed for middle, high school and college students. Each lesson can be covered in a typical 50-minute class period.

The format is:
Tell the family story through letters.
Discuss the letters and lessons.
Display and discuss coordinating charts that provide a timeline of events and laws.
Show photographs and documents.

Getting Started:
1. Review the Teacher’s Guide. (Preparation, Background Information, Optional Resources)
2. Review and read the Letters and Lessons.
3. Copy, enlarge and mount, into charts, the Laws and Events. (in the Appendix)
4. Make transparencies of Photographs and Documents. (in the Appendix)
5. Arrange for an overhead projector.

Teaching the Unit:

Day 1
Give students background information on Nazi Germany and the Deutsch Family.

Day 2 (through 1938), Day 3 (1939-40), and Day 4 (1941-beyond):
Surround the students with the charts, reverse side out, displayed around the room. Turn the charts one at a time as you discuss them. Keep the charts visible throughout the lesson to demonstrate the cumulative, insidious and sequential nature of the laws and events. (If time or money is an issue, create overhead transparencies instead of charts.)Read and discuss the lessons and the bolded segments of the letters.

Show photographs and documents on overhead projector as indicated.

Day 5 and beyond:
Provide extended learning in large and small groups.